Though Jewishness cannot be contained in a test-tube or explained in a textbook, it is none the less a tangible attribute. Even without knowing precisely what it is, every Jew is conscious of it. It itches. And, Jacobson suggests, it may be contagious.

Howard Jacobson recently described himself to The New York Times as “an English writer who happens to know about Jews and would like to write like Jane Austen, with a little bit of Yiddish,” adding that he’d rather be called “the Jewish Jane Austen” than “the English Philip Roth.” In saying this, he only affirmed the impression that his characters may be autobiographical in their self-delusions.

All but the most severely self-loathing Jews will grow weary of Jacobson’s badgering parody of self-loathing Jews. And the plot frequently gives way to lectures, discussions and set pieces that could be read in almost any order.